EXCERPT: If sex and drugs and rock ‘n roll were not the point of Woodstock, then what was the point? Amid all the raging hormones and utopian slogans and the spontaneous attempt at anarchy -- what really happened at Woodstock?
A big part of what happened was what Max Scheler (a favorite philosopher of Pope John Paul II, and a Catholic convert) called "fellow feeling," Protestants call "fellowship," Catholics refer to (rather weakly ) as "community," and early Christians called "Koinonia."
All these words refer to a feeling that comes when the usual tensions and troubles of ordinary human relationships drop away, leaving only bonds of affection, trust, and common hopes and dreams. All it once we feel our oneness.
We all know such feelings from key moments in our lives: the birth of a child, the wedding of a couple, the common loss of a loved one. It can even at special events like Cursillo, or Marriage Encounter, or charismatic prayer groups, or Renew groups. Big sports events and rock concerts can have the same effect. Such moments yield a euphoria which never last, but nevertheless can have a lasting effect. Each time we feel it, we glimpse the garden, we taste paradise.
And once that happens, although we know it cannot last, we may never again accept everyday life as our standard. We yearn for that feeling, and we will pay whatever it costs. As Christians, we know the cost is love and justice.
The kids at Woodstock had that same special experience -- but they shared it with half a million strangers all at once! Surrounded by the injustice of war, racism, and poverty, they found such hints of love, peace, and innocence irresistible.
Was Woodstock’s glimpse of the garden naive? No doubt. Was it transient? Certainly. Could it last? Of course not; but it could -- and for many it did -- have lasting impact.
Didn't most ‘60s youth drop such innocent ideals as adults? Yes, but that doesn't deny the importance of what happened to those who kept those ideals.
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